Sweden terror attack: 3 dead as truck ploughs into crowd

Stockholm, April 7

A truck drove into a crowd on a shopping street and crashed into a department store in central Stockholm on Friday, killing three persons and wounding eight in what the Prime Minister said was a terror attack.

Part of central Stockholm was cordoned off and the area was evacuated, including the main train station. All subway traffic was halted on orders from the police. “Sweden has been attacked. Everything points to the fact that this is a terrorist attack,” PM Stefan Lofven said during a visit in western Sweden. 

Many police and emergency services personnel were at the scene, a Reuters witness said. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the attack police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Several attacks in which trucks or cars have driven into crowds have taken place in Europe in the past year. Al-Qaida in 2010 urged its followers to use trucks as a weapon. 

In London on March 22, a man in a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four, and then stabbed a policeman to death before being shot by the police. — Agencies